Risk and Recovery: Understanding Flood Risk Perceptions in a Post-disaster City, the Case of New Orleans

• In Event: 189 - Section on Community and Urban Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 09. Urban Crises and Recovery

Abstract

Flood hazards are a serious and growing threat to the health and welfare of residents in coastal cities around the world. Anthropogenic climate change is expected to increase flood risk through more frequent heavy precipitation and sea level rise. This study uses a randomly sampled survey of 384 New Orleans residents to examine the effect of experiential, sociodemographic, and socioeconomic factors on flood risk perceptions. Findings suggest that respondents judge the level of flood risk to be lower than other types of risk and that flood risk perception is influenced by flood experience, income, race, gender, homeownership status, and years residing in New Orleans. No statistical support is found for age of respondent, marital status, level of education, employment status, number of children in household, or number of residents in home. Our analysis addresses several theoretical and methodological challenges underlying relationships among risk perception and risk communication strategies. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for land-use and hazards planning in coastal cities like New Orleans that face omnipresent flood threats associated with climate change driven sea level rise and increased frequency and destructiveness of storms.

Authors

• Kevin Fox Gotham, Tulane University

• Katie R. Lauve-Moon, Tulane University

• Bradford Powers, Tulane University